


Honey Butter

by tawnwriter



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/F, Lila Rossi Redemption, Not a Salt Fic, Post-Episode: s03 Caméléon | Chameleon, Shocking I know, but none after i swear, tiny surface salt in first chapter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-03
Updated: 2019-08-03
Packaged: 2020-07-30 09:42:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20095225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tawnwriter/pseuds/tawnwriter
Summary: Marinette had a plan. One more chance. One more chance for Lila, and then maybe things could go back to normal.Of course, with Chloe around, things didn't go the way she planned.-Lila hated Marinette. But when things suddenly stop going her way, a chance to fix her standing with the class appears in the form of one raven-haired Class Rep.She doesn't expect to gain anything more.





	Honey Butter

**Author's Note:**

> This has been in my WIP folder *forever*, so I'm glad to get it out finally! Lila/Marinette with some Lila redemption on the side is one of my favorites though you certainly wouldn't be able to tell from my other fics lol :D

There were three facts of life that Lila was aware of.

1) Lying got her to the top of the social ladder.

2) She couldn’t be vulnerable.

3) She hated Ladybug.

And as she walked into Francois DuPont, Marinette’s familiar hairstyle coming into view, she settled on a fourth.

She hated Marinette Dupain-Cheng.

“Morning, Lila! Look what Marinette has for you!”

_ Speak of the devil.  _ She smiled at Alya, turning a fake smile onto the raven-haired girl next to her.

“Oh? What do you have, Marinette?”

Marinette smiles, unperturbed, and presents her with a small box, the smell of baked goods wafting out from underneath the lid.

“Well, my grandmother is from Italy too, you see. And whenever she comes to visit, my parents make honey and butter zeppoles for her - it’s her favourite Italian pastry. She doesn’t often get homesick, what with her travelling so much, but she says they’re a lovely reminder of home. I mentioned to my parents yesterday that you were much like her, travelling for so long away from Italy, and Papa immediately suggested making some of our zeppoles for you in case you were homesick. We stuck with the honey and butter filling because I wasn’t sure what you liked, and they’re probably not as good as an Italian bakery, but I hope you like them anyway!” She smiles again, and presses the box into her hands.

“If you do like them, Papa says he can make some for you whenever you’d like.” She added, before giving Alya a hug and skipping to the classroom.

Lila stares down at the box. 

“Lila? You okay?”

Alya’s face is creased in concern.

  
“This is Marinette’s way of apologising about yesterday, y’know? She can be a little dramatic, but she’s a good person! I’m sure you two will be great friends, and besides,” Alya drops her voice, giving Lila a conspiratorial wink, “Marinette’s baking is the  _ best. _ You’re so lucky!”

With a smile and a wave, Lila is left alone in the locker room. 

Still staring at that damned box. Still speechless.

Still very confused.

Why?

What’s Marinette’s game?

Curiosity wins over and she flips the lid, biting into one of the zeppoles.

It doesn’t taste anything like the custard zeppoles she knew from Italy.

In fact, it tastes better, and she curses herself at the admission.

She shoves the box in her locker and stalks to the classroom, trying her damndest to plaster a fake smile on her face before she enters.

_ I hate her. _

_ I hate her. _

_ I do. _

She was going to figure out Marinette’s game, and she was going to stop her.

“Marinette? Can we talk at lunch? Privately, please?”

Suspicion flashes across her face before she smiles back.

_ Fake. _

“Sure, Lila! Did you try a pastry, by the way?”

“Yeah. They were nice. Maybe I can get you in touch with Elizabeth Falkner!  _ Her  _ zeppoles are the best in the world, I’m sure she could give your parents a couple pointers!”

Marinette’s face falls briefly at the snub, but she recovers quickly, a smile on her face.

“That sounds great, Lila! My parents are always looking for ways to expand and improve their craft, especially with cultures they aren’t so familiar with.”

Alya beams proudly at her friend, and Lila moves to the back before her face can betray her anger. 

It’s possible that Dupain-Cheng had decided fighting against her was the wrong path, and had stopped resisting. But that didn’t strike her as a likely possibility. No, far more likely it was her trying to get Lila to drop her guard and then go in.

There’s no way Marinette Dupain-Cheng was just trying to be kind. No way.

After all, Marinette hated Lila just as much as Lila hated Marinette. There was no alternative. 

She just needed to make it to lunch. That was all, just make it to lunch and then remind little miss Honesty that  _ she  _ was the class darling, and she’d be golden again. All she needed to do was make it to lunch and she would be fin-

“Hey, Rossi!”

Lila turned to the classroom door to see three people.

Chloe Bourgeois, smirking.

Principal Damocles, disapproval marring his face.

And her mother, whose eyes were filled with disappointment as they met their daughters.

As Chloe and her mother, the former much more gleefully than the latter, revealed her lies, as Alya turns to whisper to Marinette, who turns away with a sigh, Lila finds herself at a loss.

All of a sudden Marinette was the last of her worries.

As she passes her classmates, whispers start up, and the looks she catches are much too reminiscent of the ones she had smirked at Marinette receiving the previous day. .

“You really should check your surroundings before threatening people. It’s surprising, what can be overheard.” The malice in Chloe's voice, even as a whisper, is unmistakable. 

At that point a butterfly was her best bet, but even when one showed up she didn’t have a chance to do anything before Ladybug plucked it from the air.

After checking everyone was okay, she left, with an assurance of staying in the area.

Lila Rossi was led to the principal's office with angry tears in her eyes.

One floor down, in the very same bathroom she’d almost been akumatized in, Marinette detransformed, and leant against the wall with a sigh.

“That went well,” She grumbled sarcastically. 

She’d intended to try again, following a much longer conversation with Tikki the night before. She’d wanted to try and encourage Lila to stop lying on her own. She didn’t want to embarrass her, or humiliate her. She just wanted her to stop lying. 

And then Chloe had thrown a wrench into all of it.

She ran a hand through her hair, frustrated. 

Why had Chloe exposed Lila anyway? 

She didn’t fully understand, but one thing she was certain of.

People knew Lila was lying now.

She sighed, straightening her clothes and looking over her appearance in the mirror.

She had to let her own feelings go for the moment, just to see what happened the next day, when Lila returned.

_ If  _ she returned. 

With that in mind, she started towards the door to return to class. But then, raised voices sounded from outside, and she peeked around it to see a good portion of her class, how many exactly she couldn’t tell, with Adrien up against the wall and Alya’s hands clenched into fists, Nino with his arms out between the two.

“Stop!”

Marinette moves before she can think twice, standing next to Nino, eyes on Alya.

“He knew!” Alya yells, and Marinette sighs.

“It’s only been a day since she came back, Alya. Yes, he knew she was making it up. But would you have listened? You didn’t even listen to me.” She says, hurt evident in her voice, and Alya drops her gaze.

“Go back to class, guys.” Her words were soft, but final.

The others had little choice but to follow meekly in her wake.

Class was tense, but otherwise uneventful. 

Marinette was still glad when it was over. 

Lila hadn’t returned, and the class seemed to believe she wouldn’t, not with all the time she had missed.

For some reason, Marinette doubted that that would be the case.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> (Note: to anyone wondering about the next update for No Hesitation - I'm working on it I promise! I'm having some real trouble with the competition scene, be patient! It'll be worth it)


End file.
